The Circumcision Discussion
- page 84

I know this can be a HUGE debate, and I'm not looking to start any arguments. I was just wondering as you are OB nurses. I'm expecting a boy in July and not sure if we should circ. or not. My...
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The facts are that the evidence doesn't support routine infant circumcision. As to sex- what do you think would have the lesser risk- promiscuous sex without protection by a circumcised male or responsible (monogamous/protected sex) by an uncircumcised male? I'd be placing MY bets on the latter. But hey- if you have "facts" that state that it's safer to have unsafe sex and be circumcised than to be uncirced and sexually responsible- you go right ahead and post it. Unless that's too confusing for you.

Except that isn't a fact!!! If someone practices responsible SAFE sex they are less likely to spread disease circ'd or not! I really can't believe that people still believe all that propaganda BS.

This discussion is making me tired, it has been going on and sadly, will go on for years...as long as women(and some men) think they can improve on gods design, you will have newborns being strapped down and a blade taken to their penis...it is horrible, barbaric, unneccesary and purely cosmetic....unenlightened people will make excuses for doing this to their sweet baby boys...must be hard to face having mutilated your childs genitals...as nurses we frequently care for pts who havent a clue, just upsetting to see it so frequently in nurses.... so, i'm done, go ahead, do as you will, my boy is intact.

This discussion is making me tired, it has been going on and sadly, will go on for years...as long as women(and some men) think they can improve on gods design, you will have newborns being strapped down and a blade taken to their penis...it is horrible, barbaric, unneccesary and purely cosmetic....unenlightened people will make excuses for doing this to their sweet baby boys...must be hard to face having mutilated your childs genitals...as nurses we frequently care for pts who havent a clue, just upsetting to see it so frequently in nurses.... so, i'm done, go ahead, do as you will, my boy is intact.

Um, I'm not sure how you read that...but I'm ANTI-CIRC!!! I AM AGAINST IT, I THINK IT IS MUTILATION! I was responding to the poster who said that she had "facts" that it was safer to BE circ'd!!!!!

A lot of my coworkers talk about the WWI/WWII arguments - being that uncirced American men in the trenches often got bad penile infections from going weeks/months w/o being able to bathe.

Which always begged the question for me - how did the Japanese, Germans, Italians, and so many other countries that don't practice it, how did they cope? And if those men did get circed, the practice obviously didn't catch on in those countries. Something to think about...

I wonder about that too. Could you imagine the German Army adopting circumcision, a Jewish custom? I think not. There was actually an article on this BTW in the New Zealand Journal of Medicine a few years ago. Here is the link:

This discussion is making me tired, it has been going on and sadly, will go on for years...as long as women(and some men) think they can improve on gods design, you will have newborns being strapped down and a blade taken to their penis...it is horrible, barbaric, unneccesary and purely cosmetic....unenlightened people will make excuses for doing this to their sweet baby boys...must be hard to face having mutilated your childs genitals...as nurses we frequently care for pts who havent a clue, just upsetting to see it so frequently in nurses.... so, i'm done, go ahead, do as you will, my boy is intact.

First I was also a bit confused by your posts at first too. I think there is some misreading going on because we are all mostly on the same side. In any case, I think you nurses do have an important role to play because you're on the front lines so to speak. You've already done the most important thing, leaving your boys intact. It's kind of a lead by example. I'll admit I don't know how much contact or discussion you have prenatally with the parents but it's important that people in your position do as much as possible to make parents understand that this is just entirely unnecessary, and pretty unethical.

The facts are that the evidence doesn't support routine infant circumcision. As to sex- what do you think would have the lesser risk- promiscuous sex without protection by a circumcised male or responsible (monogamous/protected sex) by an uncircumcised male? I'd be placing MY bets on the latter. But hey- if you have "facts" that state that it's safer to have unsafe sex and be circumcised than to be uncirced and sexually responsible- you go right ahead and post it. Unless that's too confusing for you.

Well, I found out in December that I was having a baby boy. He's due in just a few weeks now. I brought up the whole circ conversation with my husband (who was cut as a baby-he's 48 yo now) and he said he hadn't given it any thought. I'm happy to say that after I brought everything to the table he agrees with me that our baby boy will remain intact. I'm so glad I didn't have to argue. When I was in nursing school 9 years ago I had to watch a circ. I swore from that point on that if I had a boy I would never allow that to happen. I have done my research and there's no reason for it!